


In the Floating World

by Umi (umichii)



Series: Fate lasts three lifetimes [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Folklore, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Fae!Victor, Kami!Yuuri, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, no dialogues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-10-11 14:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10467156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umichii/pseuds/Umi
Summary: First Life: They were from a world above all, but they were also not of the same world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [This song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhKoR6TNEvg) has a very special place in my heart, as it probably put me through a hundred levels of feels hell for _months_. Then YOI happened, and one day, I was hit by the idea of a 三生三世 AU, and you know what would be more glorious than a triple reincarnation AU? If there's a tengu!Yuuri in it. And since Yuuri is more of a guardian here, I used the term _kami_ all-throughout the fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Cleaned it up a bit here and there since my last update.

### 在這世

He is a god worshipped by seafarers who wished for a bountiful catch and safe journeys. Every fisherman who returned from the sea unscathed would offer a portion of their catch to him and a prayer of thanks as a show of gratitude blessing their home with food. But the sea is vast and the ocean infinite, and humans keep pouring out from land to sea day after day, the number that return dwindling until one day, the fog played a trick on them and the waves swallowed their boat whole.

The humans cried for help and he happened to be there, and so he answered them. He has no shrine for he is wherever the water flows. They call him Yuuri for the courage he gives them when they set out in their voyage, and they call him Katsuki for letting them win the battle to stay afloat and alive out in the traitorous sea.

Since then, Yuuri would watch them board their boats and row out to the open sea at dawn. Those he smile at will live to return, and those he wave away may not. Perhaps they will find something beyond the horizon, or perhaps it will be under the sea. The decision is up to the fates.

He breathes in and let it out, and the wind blows and off they sail, their sleeves rolled up and tied with white sashes as their hands poise with fishing nets ready and weaved baskets empty, waiting to be filled.

It is another day at Hasetsu.

* * *

When the seasons change and the last of the red leaves fall, Yuuri would leave the island of Hasetsu to where the water has not been frozen by the winter, an island down south full of trees and clear blue sky with gentle breeze where he can spread his wings in and fly with the birds.

He is, in a sense, like the birds, as this is something peculiar about Yuuri: he is a _kami_ with no shrine nor name, moved his home from the southern mountains to the northern beaches all because he was suddenly deified by seafaring humans in happenstance.

It was not Yuuri’s intention to stay after answering the first prayer, but he ended up staying anyway when the humans kept returning and feeding the fire that burns their offerings in his name. It was the courteous thing to do, he reasons.

So whenever he leaves the island of Hasetsu for his homeland, he makes certain that all the fishermen have plenty to catch and those who have nothing will not have to worry about fending for themselves anymore.

The year is about to end, and another is about to begin. This endless cycle has started to take its toll on Yuuri, who feels tired from the constant push and pull of life and death. As he steps one foot on the cold sand of the shoreline and onto the still sea, the dark sea stretching beyond where the eyes cannot see, he wonders if anything will change.

* * *

The seagulls did not return to Hasetsu that winter after three months, much to Yuuri’s confusion. He tries coaxing them but they refuse to budge and stays resolutely in his home island where the breeze is definitely more refreshing and the winter is forgiving.

Yuuri figures it might just be the weather turning them lethargic, and so he let it be and decides to wait until they are ready to return.

A month passes by and there, they still remain. Before Yuuri knows it, he is laughing with the wrong townsfolk and celebrating the new year in the wrong place.

As if doused with the coldest water, Yuuri stops mid-dance and looks around, and upon seeing the seagulls of Hasetsu still mingling about in this southern town, he frowns and returns to Hasetsu.

* * *

The very instance Yuuri arrives at Hasetsu, floating above sea surface, he knows something has changed in the atmosphere. He can feel it in the dead air and the lack of fishermen waiting for him at the beach.

When he crossed the shoreline separating land from sea, he startles at the deadly coldness suddenly seeping up into his core and almost shivers. It is foreign and oppressing, a cold that does not belong to his sleepy Hasetsu much like the white snow that has blanketed every surface of land.

A sharp jolt of possessiveness strikes Yuuri in the heart. Hasetsu is his and he is Hasetsu’s, and nobody else, human or god, can come in between him and this sleepy town by the sea. Yuuri cannot leave this be. He may be a shrineless _kami_ bound to no singular place, but he is territorial and Hasetsu has been established as his since the first feast the humans have celebrated his name.

* * *

Yuuri arrives in the town proper of Hasetsu within seconds, the beatings of his dark wings sending a flurry of snow whirling around him. His body radiates a godly aura that forces nature to bow to him, his mind reaching far and wide for that foreign presence, his red eyes hawklike sharp. When he lands, the snow clears and he stands inside a circle of cracked earth. The rest of the streets remain covered white though.

Yuuri steps out of his landing circle, sandal crunching snow, and instantly, the melting ice seeps into the hem of his dark blue _haori_.

The entire marketplace is deserted and covered in white. The small lake that divides the marketplace from the residential area is also frozen, the wooden bridge over it laden heavily with snow.

Yuuri finds it curious though that while there is snow everywhere on the ground, even on top of the sloped roofs and outside wooden gates, there is none falling from the sky. It is as if winter brought a blizzard with it but never melted away to usher the new spring.

Puzzled, Yuuri follows the linear path of the marketplace and over the bridge. The darkened patch on the bottom hems of his _haori_ continued enlarging in size.

At the end of the marketplace is a crossroad: the right is a leveled, downward path towards a line of houses and trees while the left is a steep stairway made of uneven stones leading to the temple that only the devoted dare to climb.

Yuuri turns towards the temple, thinking of finding a monk whom he can talk to, when he notices something moving further down the streets.

It was the figure of a white-robed spirit with hair so long and gray it falls like a silver curtain over its back kneeling before a tree. _A yuki-onna,_ Yuuri wonders and figures that it's definitely not one that belongs here judging from the strange, enclosed robe it wears, and none of the _yuki-onna's_ Yuuri has encountered have hair that silver. He can tell though that this snow creature is the one that brought this blizzard to Hasetsu.

Yuuri's breath hitches when he saw the tree roots wrapped around the _yuki-onna's_ legs, the very reason behind its struggles.

Without a second thought, Yuuri flies over to the _yuki-onna's_ side and kneels down as well, only to wince when an icy coldness stabs him from where he made contact with the earth. Unlike the softness of the snow, this coldness was as sharp and cold as an icicle, but Yuuri fights through it with gritted teeth.

(And isn't that a marvel? He, a _kami_ , being able to feel pain. It only goes to show that this is no ordinary spirit that has stumbled into Hasetsu.)

He grabs the flailing arms before a stray fist could him punch him in the face. This startles the _yuki-onna_ enough to recognize his presence and suddenly Yuuri felt the air punched out of him by the most brilliant pair of blue eyes and pinkest lips shaped into a moue. In that moment, Yuuri understands that this is no _yuki onna_ but could be a godly being. They are definitely one who is strong enough to summon a snow storm in anxiety though, and hey are the most beautiful creature Yuuri has ever laid his eyes on.

Yuuri was broken free from his thoughts when the god grunts in pain. He looks down and sees the roots tightening around the god's legs, welts blooming red on pale skin. Yuuri panics and quickly grabs the roots as if prying them away, and when the roots didn't budge, he wills the tree to let go by reaching out with his aura to the spirit residing within the tree.

A heartbeat and a whimper from the god later, the roots finally release its hold over the god's legs and retreat back into the earth.

Yuuri releases a breath he doesn't realize he was holding and falls back onto his bottom. His eyes trail towards the god still kneeling on the ground but definitely harried and frightened. He wanted to ask the god how they're feeling, but no sound could come out of his throat. The god is rubbing their bruising legs, welts darkening so fast into splotches of purple.

Finally, after Yuuri managed to get his heartbeat back to its normal rate, he pulls himself up, dusting snow off his haori, and offers the god a hand.

The god glances at his hand, lips pursing slightly, before they reach with an arm out and slot a shaky hand over Yuuri's rough palm. With shaky legs, the god rises up to stand on their feet, leaning most of their weight on Yuuri, only for their knees to buckle and lose their balance.

The _kami_ was quick to react. Yuuri instinctively puts an arm around the god's waist to keep the latter upright. He tries to ignore the inquisitive glance the god shoots him and the telltale flush on his cheeks, and instead bends down and, without any warning, sweeps the snowy deity off their feet by lifting the back of their knee with the crook of his left arm while the arm supports the god's upper body. The god yelps in surprise, pale arms wrapping around Yuuri's neck as Yuuri takes off with the god in his arms to the sky and towards the temple.

* * *

The god, as Yuuri has been calling them mentally, is in fact a fae prince named Vitya from a distant ice realm who wanted to see more of the world, and he can only speak to Yuuri through hand movements, facial expressions, and projecting his thoughts as images in Yuuri's mind.

By flashing colorful images in his mind, Vitya showed Yuuri how he had followed the trail of the winter wind which led him to Hasetsu. But the forest of Hasetsu did not like him, and the tree spirits made this very clear. Vitya panicked and in terror, the blizzard followed and trapped Hasetsu in an unrelenting winter.

Yuuri also learned that Vitya laughs like a soft, tinkling bell that tickles Yuuri's belly the way his feathers feel when petted, and it scares Yuuri more than anything else that he wants to hear more of it.

The snow has begun to melt outside, winter slowly subsiding by the hour. The welts and bruises on Vitya's legs has started to fade. His voice, however, remains muted.

Days pass, and with each set of the sun, Yuuri nurses Vitya until he can stand on his own again. The townsfolk has already come out of their home and the prayer of gratitude follows, once again thanking Katsuki for the blessing. The smell of charred fish permeates the airy prayer hall of the temple every morning. Eventually, Vitya is up and about, free like a fae, save for the the small limp in his steps.

One thing Yuuri has not expected though since rescuing Vitya is the kind of emotions the fae prince has pulled out of his faded heart.

Each second spent with Vitya only fans the fire of Yuuri's heightening senses. It is almost as if Vitya is a knife that pierced right through Yuuri's protective barrier and unearthed that primal part of him that has been buried by time. And to watch Vitya settle down here in the temple, puttering around as if it is now his shrine, triggered an intrinsic _want_ in Yuuri to possess that felt like a particular kind of soreness that stretches from his heart and expands to his lungs, filling it with so much air.

And yet he cannot breathe anything out, the fullness suffocating him from inside. Vitya is carefree and so very clueless, an innocent demi-god to Yuuri's worldly _kami._

It hurts and it is overwhelming, and it does not make any sense _at all_. Yuuri has never felt such emotions in his entire existence. The more Vitya reveals himself to Yuuri, the more he feels that urge to possess the fae prince, to capture that lithe body in his arms and shield that paleness from all outsiders with the wide span of his wings.

Vitya rekindles the hunger of the _kami_ in Yuuri, and suddenly Yuuri does not want to return Vitya to anyone. He only wants to keep Vitya all to himself.

But Vitya is unaware of Yuuri's thoughts as much as Yuuri is thoroughly exposed to Vitya's heart. _Like a guileless doe under the watchful gaze of the crow._ And this, Yuuri thought despite the very strong drive in his guts to claim and possess, is unfair for Vitya. Vitya deserves more than Yuuri's animalistic desire to own him.

Vitya belongs to the ice realms beyond the ocean just like how Yuuri belongs to the quiet island of Hasetsu where no snow fae can tempt the dark side of his _kami_. And if Vitya does not want to leave Hasetsu, then Yuuri will have to make him leave.


	2. Chapter 2

### 到這世

Vitya remembers the glassy surface of the frozen lake beneath his feet, his reflection staring back at him as he tried balancing his weight on thin ice. Ten feet away from him was poor Makka sitting on her hind legs, shaking from fright and cold, lost and stranded, and the sight of the shivering pup twisted Vitya's heart, making him step harder than he should.

Vitya's heart stopped. The ice beneath him cracked. White lines spread like veins branching out towards Makka, causing her to jump up to stand on four legs and bark.

"Makka!" he tried shushing the pup and slid his right foot an inch forward. His thighs burn from the stretch. He lifted his other foot, only to end up putting more weight on the heel of his right one, and before Vitya can right himself, he heard the loud crack of ice breaking, icy water biting his heel, then the forceful drag of gravity pulling him down into the dark, freezing coldness of the lake.

The memory of it left a hollow mark in Vitya's chest. It is empty save for the ghost of the lake's icy water filling it up so fast as if it was an empty drum thirsting during a draught, and Vitya carried the phantom weight with him wherever he goes, letting it become his compass.

Perhaps it could guide him to wherever his poor Makka might have vanished off to.

* * *

 

Vitya felt the wind carrying the soft tinkles of bells before he heard it: three chimes, clear and light.

He follows the sound, drawn like a moth, and leaves behind a trail of white dust and cool wind. He arrives in a valley with a well-treaded path that leads to the mouth of a cave, its entrance barricaded by strings with rectangular strips of papers attached to it. Vitya doesn't need to be told it's a ward.

But Vitya isn't human anymore, not since the Winter Father had mercy on him and turned him into a fae, so whatever laws humans follow should not apply to him anymore, does it?

He enters the cave, easing through the wards. A pure blast of energy and windy aura hits him and instantly, Vitya knows that someone lived here, someone strong and powerful and this someone rules this island and Vitya is a mere trespasser. But underneath that show of power, Vitya can sense a hint of tenderness, a gentle touch that warmed his heart and made him feel something he can't describe quite well. It is as if he's being welcomed by the cave and at the same time being introduced to its owner, a soft gust of wind brushing past his cheeks, sending long silver hair flying. Vitya is quite intimate with the feeling of longing for home, and stepping deeper into the cave, he knows it misses its owner quite as much, but in the meantime, it is willing to play with Vitya for a while.

He cannot help but laugh, feet turning and dancing with the wind. There are spirits here, he could feel them thrumming from within the stone walls, and for a second Vitya could see the faint shadow of the being that resides within this cage, an imprint of their presence.

Vitya knows there is someone here he must meet, a being that is unlike any he has ever encountered in the ice realm. In all his years as a wandering winter spirit, Vitya has never felt such curiosity and anxiousness at what he can unravel, because surely someone with such power should be quite the sight to behold. He is already used to the show of power in the ice realm, where brute force and aggression pave one's way to the top. After all, that is how Vitya got to the top, a prince in all but title.

 _What would he be like?_ Vitya wonders to himself, heart fluttering in excitement.

Outside the cave, snow begins to fall.

* * *

 

In the end, Yuuri realizes he doesn't have to make Vitya leave.

He sees the faraway gaze in Vitya's face every sunrise, looking towards the east where it rises. Yuuri knows the silver of Vitya's long, beautiful hair dulls as the heat soars day by day. By the time the leaves start falling off the trees, painting the forests red, the halo around Vitya has disappeared. Not even the moonlight could light him up whenever he goes to stroll down the glade at the other side of the mountain.

And yet despite the decline of Vitya's beauty, the hunger grows. Yuuri fears, and he fears some more.

* * *

 

The gulls are crying in the sky beyond, heading south.

Winter has arrived again. This time, Yuuri stays behind in Hasetsu, where snow has settled in and the lake has frozen over.

As a fae from the ice realm, Vitya is probably not suited to any weather that isn't cold and snowy. So when winter finally sets in, slowly, the glow returns and Vitya brightens up. He was like a snowdrop that dares to raise its head towards the winter sky, waiting to taste the first fall of snow on its petals.

Vitya has taken to visiting the lake at night where he'd glide over its frozen surface, arms outstretched and hair billowing in the wind. His feet never touched the ice. Instead, he floats, almost like a shimmering ghost.

 _The most beautiful ghost,_ Yuuri thinks with a slight pang in his belly, as he feels heat grow where it's not supposed to, and the more time he spends with Vitya, the hotter it becomes. It was as if the sight of Vitya is keeping him warm. _But Yuuri knows_. He knows this heat is no gift from Vitya to protect him from the wintry coldness. It's from something else, a place within him that he never dares to peek into, where the very core of his being resides in pure chaos.

But Yuuri is also weak, and he is selfish and prideful. He leaves it be for he wants Vitya all to himself and instead puts all of his faith in his own ability to control it, foolishly believing his love _(because this must be love, he reasons to himself, nothing else can explain this inexplicable desire to be with someone)_ is enough to protect him from himself, and he lets the heat pool in his belly and keep his heart warm.

When the last of the snow finally falls, waiting for the sun to melt it away, Vitya returns to the lake, pale feet freezing its surface just from his presence alone, and invites Yuuri to join him. And Yuuri is not strong, he is still just a creature tied to this worldly realm. He follows and allows Vitya to wrap cold fingers around his and pull him to the ice, and for what feels like eternity, they dance to the rhythm of their shared breaths and the song of the winter wind.

Yuuri ignores the blazing fire in his belly. He only drowns himself in the cool blue of Vitya's eyes, noticing the faint specks of white as if it's also snowing in Vitya's eyes. It was such a silly notion that Yuuri chuckles softly to himself, much to Vitya's unvoiced curiosity.

But dancing is like getting drunk, and Yuuri does not realize his until it was too late. The fire grows and grows and it burns the very essence of him. Two pairs of feet glide faster and faster across cracking ice, and when the dance finally reaches the peak of the melody's crescendo, they plummet down and the last of Yuuri's control snaps, the heat bursting out of his belly and up, up, up it goes to his heart, clutching it so tight his heart explodes and his vision narrows down to the dimming glow encasing Vitya before it fades to black.

Winter left Hasetsu overnight.

Spring settled in just as fast.

* * *

 

Over the years, the people of Hasetsu talked about an unnamed kami that used to protect the town from unknown forces. It was the same kami that lived in a cave beyond the temple up in the mountain. The kami would know when Hasetsu is in danger, and it would always come down from the mountains to protect the town.

So many legends arose about the kami, but there was a particular one that was always told during winter as people huddle together and keep themselves warm. Legend has it that a neverending winter once befell upon Hasetsu, and the kami emerged from its cave and saved Hasetsu by swallowing the winter down to its last snowdrop, where it melts inside the kami's belly until finally, it was fully consumed.

It was a tale that his father always talks about whenever it snows too hard and the Katsukis got cooped up inside the inn, but it was a foolish tale that Yuuri never believes in.

**Author's Note:**

> Re. the titles: 遺世 (lit. means 'floating world') is a Buddhist term referring to the world of the living.  
> 'Fate lasts three lifetimes' is a line from Nirvana in Fire (please watch it, you will not regret it), which ironically is the show that led me to the song that inspired this.
> 
> Please come scream at me over [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/umichii) or [Tumblr](http://www.umi-has-noodles.tumblr.com). orz Kudos and comments much appreciated! <3


End file.
